Jack Lopas, who claims he was “quite unathletic” when he started rowing 10 years ago, has since become an Olympian and the captain of the Yale Heavyweight Crew Team.
 
The New Zealand native did not make his Christchurch Boys High School crew team in 2013 and used that to inspire his determination. His motivation produced impressive results. In 2015, he competed at Junior Worlds in Rio de Janeiro, where he placed eighth in the Double Sculls. Lopas followed that with a gold medal in the 2016 U19 national championships and then earned three golds in U18 events at the Maadi Cup.
 
In 2016, Lopas became a junior world champion in double skulls in Rotterdam at the Junior Worlds. And to back up a successful New Zealand Club season (two national titles), Lopas took gold in the quad at the World Under-23 Men's in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. He ended up with two national titles in 2017 and a silver at the national club championships. During the summer of 2019, Lopas competed again for New Zealand at the under-23 world Championships in Sarasota, Fla., winning silver in the men's double. 
 
He arrived in New Haven in the fall of 2017 and helped Yale win IRA National Championships in 2018 and 2019. He was in the bow of the Eli first varsity as a newcomer and moved to the fourth seat of the same boat as a sophomore.
 
Lopas, who was in the No. 4 seat for the collegiate champions at the 2019 Head of the Charles,
made the decision to defer his senior spring as the pandemic hit and returned to New Zealand to train with the elite rowing team. After a month with the team, he won the men's premier single and double sculls title in 2021, earning his first red coat. He capped his time off from Yale by earning a spot on New Zealand’s Olympic team and finishing eighth at the 2021 Tokyo Games in double sculls.
 
The son of Anna and Jason Lopas grew up playing rugby before he became New Zealand’s secondary school 2km Erg record holder and his school’s prefect.

YEAR-BY-YEAR AT YALE

2021-22 (Senior): Team Captain

2020-21: Trained with the New Zealand National Team... Took second in the B final of double sculls at the 2021 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.

2019-20 (Junior): Rowed in No. 4 seat for collegiate champion at the 2019 Head of the Charles.

2018-19 (Sophomore): From the four seat in the 1V helped Yale win gold at IRA Nationals and win Sprints.

2017-18 (First Year): Had the bow of the 1V... Helped row the Elis to IRA and Sprints championships and win over Harvard.

BEFORE YALE: Elected prefect of his school… Member of his school’s sports council… Named Senior Oarsman (2015-2016) … Received Olympic Sports Honors for rowing… Three-time New Zealand Secondary School title holder… New Zealand Secondary School 2km Erg record holder…. Named Junior World Double Scull Champion (2016) … Won the New Zealand Club Champions title twice … Raced at the 2017 U23 World Champs… Also played varsity rugby.

PERSONAL: Jack Lopas (Low-paz) is the son of Anna and Jason Lopas.